Celebration Carrot Cake

Carrot Cake is right up there in my top 5 all-time favourite bakes along with Coffee, Lemon Drizzle, Victoria Sponge and Chocolate Fudge! I’m a real lover of simple bakes and while this recipe has lots of lovely ingredients, it really is so easy to make.

It would most definitely suit as a cake for a friend’s Birthday or Mother’s Day (and I’m sure a cake loving man in your life wouldn’t say no either!) but you could really enjoy it anytime with a nice cup of tea!!

I found this recipe back last year on Pinterest and had to wait until now for the opportunity to make it. I think it was from the Chef, Aldo Zilli! I’ve made a couple of small adjustments to the recipe but whoever created it, definitely knew a thing or two about Carrot Cake and baking 🙂

By the way, you’ll probably notice I don’t tend to spend too much time on any fancy icing techniques but you can be as creative as you like !!!!

Serves: 8 – 10

Ingredients:

• 175g Dark Brown Sugar
• 3 Eggs
• 150ml Sunflower Oil
• 200g Self-Raising Flour
• 1 Teasp Bicarbonate of Soda
• 3 Teasp Mixed Spice
• Zest of 1 Large Orange
• 200g Carrots, peeled and coarsely grated
• 50g Sultanas
• 50g Desiccated Coconut
• 50g Pecan Nuts or Walnuts, roughly chopped

Frosting:

• 200g Unsalted Butter, at room temperature
• 400g Icing Sugar, sifted
• 2 Tablspn Milk
• 1 Teasp Vanilla Extract
• 250g Full Fat Cream Cheese
• 1 Teasp Cinnamon

To Decorate:

• 50g Pecan Nuts or Walnut

For the Syrup Glaze:

• Juice from the Large Orange
• 1 Tablspn Lemon Juice
• 75g Dark Brown Sugar

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 170oC Fan, 340oF or Gas Mark 4
2. Grease and line two 20cm round cake tins
3. In a large bowl, mix together the sugar, eggs and oil (I use my mixer but if doing it by hand you will need to whisk the ingredients for approx 2 minutes) until the sugar has dissolved.
4. Sift in the flour, bicarb and mixed spice and gently stir. Add in the remaining ingredients and mix again.
5. Divide the batter equally between the two tins and bake for 30 minutes or until a skewer dipped into the centre of each cake comes out dry
6. Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tins for 5 minutes.
7. Meanwhile, make the syrup glaze by pouring the orange and lemon juices into a small saucepan along with the sugar. Warm gently over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved. I then remove any lining paper and place the sponges on a cooling rack sitting on a layer of tin foil. Spike both sponges all over with a skewer and then carefully pour the warm glaze over each one. Allow to cool fully
8. To make the frosting – beat the butter and sifted icing sugar in a bowl. Gently warm the milk and vanilla in a cup in your microwave and then pour into the bowl. Whisk all together until light and fluffy – this will take a few minutes using an electric mixer. Next add in the cream cheese and cinnamon and mix again until smooth (watch out for lumps of cream cheese and if there are any in your icing then continue to mix until smooth)
9. The icing can be a little soft at this stage so I like to place it in the fridge for an hour to thicken.
10. Finally, place one of the cakes on your serving plate. Spread approx one third of the icing on it and then top with the other sponge. Spoon another third of the icing over the top of the cake bringing it out to the edges. If you have a piping bag, you can then use the last bit of icing to pipe some florets around the top of the cake – not necessary but its nice to have a little decoration, especially if this cake is being used for a celebration.
11. You can then decorate with whole nuts or chop some coarsely and spread across the top

Enjoy!